18 Blue Cheese Recipes With a Punch of Pungent Flavor

Beet & Blue Cheese Salad
Photo: Christina Holmes

Love it or hate it, blue cheese crumbles add an undeniable punch of flavor to salads, sandwiches, burgers, and pizzas. Incorporating blue cheese into a recipe is a great gateway for learning to appreciate it if you typically stay away. Here are some of our favorite ways to use the wonderfully pungent cheese, from crostini to salad dressing.

01 of 18

Grilled Summer Squash with Blue Cheese and Pecans

Grilled Summer Squash with Blue Cheese and Pecans
Eva Kolenko

For grilled squash with a uniformly crisp texture, chef Vivian Howard cuts her squash lengthwise into quarters and then removes the seedy interior. This gorgeous summer salad is tossed with a bright, lemony dressing.

02 of 18

Rosemary Flatbread with Blue Cheese, Grapes, and Honey

Rosemary Flatbread with Blue Cheese, Grapes and Honey
Dana Gallagher

This rosemary flatbread is both fluffy and crusty, and the blue cheese — which goes from crumbly to creamy in the oven — melts in your mouth.

03 of 18

Creamy Polenta with Three-Cheese Fonduta

Creamy Polenta with Three Cheese Fonduta Recipe
Photo by Greg DuPree / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer

This creamy polenta with three-cheese fonduta is a luxuriously rich mixture of thick, sweet polenta and three cheeses: whole-milk ricotta, crumbly Gorgonzola, and nutty Parmigiano-Reggiano. Thyme-infused brown butter adds a woodsy, nutty bite to this indulgent side.

04 of 18

Chicken Quesadillas with Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions

Chicken Quesadillas with Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions

© Lucy Schaeffer

Cookbook author Melissa Clark's tangy twist on chicken quesadillas will leave you wondering how you've never tried this dish with blue cheese.

05 of 18

Autumn Salad with Figs and Blue Cheese

Autumn Salad with Figs and Blue Cheese
Christina Holmes

Food blogger Mimi Thorisson's mesclun salad is sweetened with figs, apples, and grapes yet still maintains acidic and spicy flavors from the apple cider vinegar and whole-grain mustard.

06 of 18

Firecracker Shrimp with Blue Cheese Dressing

Firecracker Shrimp with Blue Cheese Dressing
Madeleine Hill

Leave it to star chef Andrew Zimmern to cook up the ultimate football season (or any season, if you ask us) comfort food: fried shrimp dunked in blue cheese dressing.

07 of 18

Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

Beet & Blue Cheese Salad
Christina Holmes

Chef Nicolaus Balla's beet and blue cheese salad, made with scallions, herbs, and red wine, is bright and sweet.

08 of 18

Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Pear, and Blue Cheese

Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Pear and Blue Cheese. Photo © Quentin Bacon
© Quentin Bacon

Pear and blue cheese are a classic pairing. This simple focaccia adds sweet caramelized onions and comes together in just four steps.

09 of 18

Umami Burgers with Port and Stilton

Umami Burger with Port and Stilton
© Marcus Nilsson

Resist the urge to pile any of the usual toppings — lettuce, tomato, ketchup — onto these burgers. "The port is your condiment," explains restaurateur Adam Fleischman.

10 of 18

Charred Broccoli with Blue Cheese Dressing and Spiced Crispies

Charred Broccoli with Blue Cheese Dressing and Spiced Crispies
© John Kernick

Chicago chef Stephanie Izard amps up broccoli with a punchy vinaigrette, creamy blue cheese dressing, and an irresistibly crunchy, butter-toasted Rice Krispies topping.

11 of 18

Three-Cheese Cauliflower Gratin

Three Cheese Cauliflower Gratin
Victor Protasio

If there’s a better way to eat cauliflower than this gratin, we have yet to come across it. A powerhouse of English cheeses — Montgomery’s crumbly and nutty cheddar; Ogleshield, a washed-rind Jersey cow's milk cheese; and buttery, blue-veined Colston Bassett Stilton — blankets cauliflower florets in a béchamel.

12 of 18

Stilton-Stuffed Pickled Peppers

Stilton-Stuffed Pickled Peppers
Greg DuPree

Two high-impact ingredients — funky Stilton cheese and pickled sweet or spicy peppers — come together to form the ultimate one-bite snack. Pickled peppers, like spicy pepperoncini and mild Peppadew, are packed with enough flavor to stand up against strong cheeses. You can use most blue cheeses here, including Gorgonzola and Roquefort.

13 of 18

Double-Cut Rib Eye with Sweet Gorgonzola Butter

Double Cut Rib Eye with Sweet Gorgonzola Butter
Victor Protasio

At her modern chophouse, Jar, in Los Angeles, 2002 F&W Best New Chef Suzanne Tracht's menu changes with the seasons. To celebrate summer, she says, "This juicy, sweet combo of Gorgonzola and beef alongside fresh heirloom tomatoes is how I kick off the outdoor months."

14 of 18

Restoration Salad with Farro, Orange, and Blue Cheese

Restoration Salad Recipe
Alison Miksch

"In each bite, you get a little nuttiness, a lot of chewiness, some juicy bits, a pleasant amount of bitterness, and some creamy richness," cookbook author Ann Taylor Pittman writes of this salad.

15 of 18

Caramelized Onion and Bread Soup with Brûléed Blue Cheese

Caramelized Onion and Bread Soup with Bruleed Blue Cheese
Greg DuPree

In their book Wine Food, sommelier Dana Frank and recipe developer Andrea Slonecker pair funky, bright wines with flavorful, vegetable-forward dishes. In this vegetarian version of classic French onion soup, blue cheese and oloroso sherry bring new layers of flavor and depth. Notes of toasted nuts and fruit compote in the sherry pair well with caramelized onions, and its briny acidity cuts through the richness of the cheese.

16 of 18

Crostini with Grilled Sweet Onions and Blue Cheese

Crostini with Grilled Sweet Onions and Blue Cheese Recipe
Johnny Autry

On the river, chef Andrae Bopp wraps whole sweet Walla Walla onions in foil and tosses them into the coals of the campfire to roast and caramelize; here we've adapted his recipe for your home grill. Don't skip the zippy honey-vinegar drizzle — it coaxes out even more flavor from the sweet onions and balances the blue cheese.

17 of 18

Leftover Blue Cheese Chicken Salad Sandwich

Leftover Blue Cheese Chicken Salad Sandwich
© Con Poulos

Chef Jonathan Waxman’s tasty chicken salad is dressed with a mix of yogurt and Gorgonzola cheese. You needn't wait until you have "leftover" cheese to make it, but the recipe only calls for two ounces.

18 of 18

Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Blue Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Blue Cheese
© Kate Winslow

This isn't your typical macaroni and cheese. Onion, bacon, and beautiful blue cheese bake together with pasta until the dish is golden and bubbling, then it's all topped with snipped chives.

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